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Thursday, September 13, 2012

Alla Prima Portrait Class: Day 2

Today was not a good day in class. It started off all nice and easy. My drawing was looking pretty good. I was feeling pretty good. And then came color, my current nemesis. As I have said before, mixing colors, especially flesh tones, are hard enough. Add in a limited palette (yellow ochre, cadmium red, ivory black, and titanium white) and all hell breaks loose! Okay, maybe that's an exageration, but it felt like it yesterday.
I am still not happy with my final result. If only I had a few more hours...!

I like the way that this started.

Still looking pretty good, although I think the nose looks big...

Adding in the darkest darks.

And here is where it all went wrong. The colors look muddy.
Too much white was added too soon. This was where I
started to wonder if I could make this painting work.

I wiped out all of the paint and decided that the nose and mouth
area need some reconstructing.

It's looking better here but the skin tones still look too red. She was a
pretty pale woman.

More progress...

My final results. I am still not happy with it. The color still feels off.
I wish I had more time to work on it, but I don't. I have to remind myself that
it's just practice and I am learning. I just hate having incomplete work, and work
that I am unhappy with on top of it.

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About Me

Jhina Alvarado is a self-taught artist who is represented by galleries across the United States. Her work has been featured in various international and national magazines, blogs, and art technique books. She currently works part-time as a calculus and pre-calculus teacher at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts and paints full-time in her home studio in San Francisco.
Visit her website at www.jhinaalvarado.com